DemiX
by Wes Zimmer
Summary: Jade Pager, half-blood, finds herself at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters with new mutant powers, given to her by newly developed serum made by the enemy. She must learn to use these new powers, but she can't let these X-Men find out about her demigod roots. More importantly, she must figure out what the enemy is up to with new transformation.
1. Chapters 1 through 4

In a broken heap, lying balled up in the corner on the clear other side of the oversized, vacant room, the boy helplessly watched as the crazed man rushed the young innocent girl, who was already pounded enough herself, and just about to give. As she got knocked into, she fell on her side and was unable to return the favor.  
The boy shakily tried to come up to a stand, planning to do some heroic stunt that would save them both, but as he tried a step forward, his legs buckled. All he could do was stand there as everything he cared about was about to be ruined.  
He saw the man kneel next to the passed out lump and take out a small object filled with unnaturally colored liquid. He punctured the skin right below her left ear and injected the poison looking serum.  
From the corner, an agonizing shriek filled the room – one scream that was apparently supposed to have formed a _"nooooo…"._ It stopped dead after a few seconds when the boy felt a giant force knock him to the ground. He could still feel dreadful pounds at his head as his lights slowly went black.

*Cue X-Men Evolution Theme*

2

Jade stood in blank awe, taking in the beautiful, intimidating mansion's front. It looked as though it'd taken some hits, but its white paint, multiple stories, and perfect workmanship gave it an important feel, which was matched with a gorgeous fountain and luscious & enormous field, for breathtaking perfection.  
The past several days rushed through her head, trying to piece themselves together.

When she woke up that one day, after being knocked out for three days, she remembered terrible pain as well as unknown surroundings and strange voices. One voice had approached her and reached out, to which she freaked out. She jumped off the table and kicked him hard in the head, knocking him to the ground. She held to his thought a perfectly balanced sword she apparently had not noticed wielding. _It was steel though, it couldn't have been hers…._  
She spent the whole second half of that day, as well as the first half of the next, getting as far away as possible before stopping. Finding a vacant alleyway, she collapsed, resting until dawn the next morning. She hadn't gotten very far at all, just turning the corner out of the alley, when a sleek, sporty car containing two senior - collage aged students, pulled over next to her. Out of the passenger seat came a thin, tallish young woman with almost reddish-brown hair waving down her shoulders. She'd introduced herself as Jean and started telling her of stuff that had Jade lost through her slight ADHD.  
She agreed to go with them to this 'Xavier Institute' thing, knowing only at that point that she couldn't go back to her old life, or let anyone find out about it either…

Jolting back to reality, Jade found herself being lead into the mansion by Jean and an assertive looking guy with red shades and a serious face – Scott.  
Without allowing but a mere second to take in the scenery after entering, an instant puff of smoke appeared and vanished, leaving behind a scent of burning brimstone and a fuzzy, deep blue being.  
Jade blinked a couple times right before a young girl's head, sprouting from the wooden floor, had made her jump back just a bit. She thought to herself, _What's next, a hellhound?_ She could have sworn she heard an answering howl.  
The girl turned her head to look at Jade, "Oh, I, like, totally didn't know we were expecting company," she said with a giggle, rising up to show the rest of her short, petite self, which stood up against the blue creature with pointy ears and glowing yellow luminous eyes.  
"Kitty," Jean started, "Don't you and Kurt have some peace to disturb? *Away* from orientations?"  
With a giggle and another puff of brimstone smelling smoke, the two vanished.  
Jade shifted a bit, to which Jean gave her a small, slight apologetic smile.

3

Stopping in front of a white door to an office at the end of the majestic hall, Jade glanced at Jean cautiously and curiously. In response to an invitation to enter, the door slowly inched open.  
That she was used to. You can scarcely travel the nation without bumping into at least a few of these little things.  
"Ah, Miss Pager," a wise, profound looking man from behind a maple desk addressed. His automated wheelchair brought him around to the side of the desk – next to Jade, "Welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters."  
At this point, Jade had subconsciously remembered the fairly recent mention of him, and was able to guess right – no help from the name tag sitting on the front edge of the desk, "Thank you, Professor."  
He paused for a second before continuing, "The other day, Cerebro picked up your mutant signal – your 'X-gene'. It sensed you using mutant abilities – for the first time and unknowingly, I'm sure."  
"Mutant abilities…like?"  
"Well…the readings on you were more…fuzzy, I suppose you'd say, than normal, and we couldn't really tell, but we believe you have some form of materialization. Of what, though, we can't be sure…do you remember anything at all?"  
She thought back to the sword that appeared upon awakening. It looked to be just steel, but… "I was…pretty disoriented…"  
The Professor inhaled, thinking, but whatever idea he had, he discarded with an exhale, "Very well…patience then. Feel free to look around and such, and if you do choose to stay, there's an open dorm, third to the end on the right in the girls' hall…I wish I had a map for you…"  
She pursed her lips, pausing half a second, "Thank you, sir," and slowly started to back out into the hall.  
Jean, who'd been waiting outside, slipped in after she'd left to speak with him.  
"Jean. What seems to be troubling you?"  
"Sir…It's just…her mind, I guess…Trying or not, I can only manage to read bits and pieces of her thoughts, and even they are unclear and undecipherable…I don't know what's up with that…"  
He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant, "I, honestly, don't know either…so all we can do is be patient as we search for the answers."

4

After wandering the halls for a few minutes, Jade came across what she assumed to be the rec room, occupied by only three or four teens. She cautiously opened the door and walked in. _Gotta start somewhere… _  
Two boys were too engulfed in their game of pool to notice, but a pale girl leaning against the walls' corner gave a slight, not real noticeable nod at to her.  
Not wanting to stand by the entrance idiotically, Jade approached the low-profiled girl, whose short, light brown, white streaked hair matched her albino skin tone.  
"Hey," Jade immediately picked up a strong Southern dialect in the girl, "You get here real recently?"  
She shrugged, "About thirty to forty-five minutes or so ago…"  
She nodded, turning her head slowly and slightly to the right, "Thought so," It came back a bit faster, "It usually takes an hour or so for word to be blabbed around the whole place of a new mutant. You thinking about staying, or parents ship you here and you have no choice?"  
She smiled, shaking her head a bit and, again, shrugging "Probably, I don't have any place at the moment, none that I'm ready to return to at least…"  
"I respect that…I'm Rouge, by the way."  
"Jade," She held out her hand, to which Rouge shook her head slightly.  
"Not the best idea…"  
"Uhm…Okay…" She dropped her hand slowly and shoved it into her jeans pocket once down.  
Just then, the girl from the main hall melted through the door, rushing in with a high-pitched giggle. Once several feet in, the blue fuzzy one popped onto her in a piggyback and swayed his weight back and forth. The girl had moved her feet several times to keep her balance, but once her knees buckled from the extra weight shifting constantly, they both fell forward, the girl on the bottom.  
The creature gave a small victorious grin as he held her down, but in response, she phased through his body, grabbing him in the same position he had had her. He rolled his weight from side to side, trying to push her off, all the while she was emitting chipmunk laughter.  
"Hey, guys – get a room," Rouge interrupted.  
Kitty stuck her tongue out at her as they got up. Kurt stood behind her with his arms locked around her shoulders as she giggled some more. She then randomly pointed out, "Hey, you two, like, totally match."  
Jade looked down diagonally left a bit. There was some truth to that, but only a little. Though her hair was jet black, unruly and curly, and came down below her shoulders, her single, white streak resembled Rouge's twin streaks, though her own was more silvery, curled, and touched the front of her left shoulder.  
"Vwow, Kitty," Kurt said in a heavy German accent.  
"Well, they're, like, right next to each other and…yeah" She said as an excuse for her random finding, "So, like, we didn't get a proper intro earlier, I'm Kitty Pryde, and this is Kurt Wagner,"  
"Jade Pager," She answered while watching Kurt's hands slowly inc down Kitty's sides.  
"Do you zink you'll be staying vith us?" Kurt asked while resting his head on Kitty's.  
"Uhm, probably, I guess…"  
"So, you weren't, like, about to run away freaking out after seeing this fuzzball, were you?" Kitty smirked, getting an answering look from Kurt.  
She shook her head slowly and paused, cautiously adding, "I was surprised, though, that I saw it right then…you guys really have to hide this?"  
Kitty tilted her head, "Of course…" As if to demonstrate, Kurt pressed a button on his watch-appearing device, which took away all his abnormal qualities, making him appear a normal teenager, then switched back to his blue form, still holding Kitty.  
"But that requires effort…"  
They began to estimate her sanity levels, "Hiding ze world, or anyzing for zat matter, vwill take effort…"  
She decided to stop before she said anything she shouldn't, "Interesting…."  
Kitty raised her eyebrows for a few seconds before changing the subject, "So, like, just a tip then, if anyone uses 'session' and 'Logan' together," Kurt groaned at the mention, "that is reason to drop whatever you are doing and run screaming."  
"Sounds fun," After getting a chuckle from Kurt, she added, "That was a serious comment…"  
He smiled, "Just watch out mein friend."

.


	2. Chapters 5 through 7

5

They went on for hours – talking about the pros and cons of the Institute, painting a mental map in Jade's mind of the area's basic layout, which teachers to watch out for at Bayville High, ect. – until they finally acknowledged their stomachs roaring at them, demanding to be fed.

Jade hadn't realized how immensely hungry she was until her stomach's riots planted the thought of food in her brain. She'd felt quite normal, but she began to wonder, now, how long she'd gone without food – it felt like only a day, but it had to have been longer.

Jade failed to see how Kitty and Kurt had managed to polish off their king-sized meals through their extensive flirting in the same amount of time it had taken her through not engaging in conversation, but they'd pulled it off.

Afterwards, she went up to find her dorm and get the gist of it. Once in the right hallway, she walked past twenty some-odd doors until three from the end. She pushed open the door on her right and flipped on the light-switch, half-expecting to see a small, bland, mildew place like those in some of her old boarding schools. But this room wasn't half bad, almost real decent.

On-top of the neatly-made twin-sized bed pressed up against the left wall, she was surprised to find a suitcase laying. She smiled after opened it – It was obvious they'd contacted her mother, because her canteen and a box of Oreos lay on top of the non-folded, stuffed in clothes.

She spent one of the several hours before bed trying to shake out the wrinkles and properly fold the clothes and sort them into the drawers of the dresser against the wall opposite the bed. There weren't many articles of clothing, but they were all as wrinkly as prunes. She would have to go shopping sometime, after she got some money. If she knew her mom, though, an envelope of green should be arriving within the next few days.

She reached up to her throat and stopped at a bump, a black leather necklace bearing seven assorted clay beads. She thought about taking it off and burying it under the few pieces of clothing that would later pile up, but she couldn't bring herself to. Instead, she reached up and pulled the chain dangling from the ceiling fan, blackening the room. She plopped down on the bed and kicked off her shoes, pulled off her socks, and laid there for a long while before drifting asleep.

6

"So I'ma sit in that quiet empty room and magically figure out how to use some unknown power I may not even be able to access again?"

Jean answered for the Professor, who was programming some surprises, "You're gonna sit in that quiet empty room while intense, state-of-the-art, highly sophisticated and advanced technology challenges your 'Fight or Flight' instincts, awakening said 'unknown power' as a means of defending yourself. Welcome to the Danger Room."

Jade paused just long enough to gain the maximum wittiness of her response, "You're gonna try to scare me with things that go 'Pew-Pew-Pew'?"

Jean looked away with no comment, and the Professor spoke up, "Don't worry, these horrible machines won't go 'Pew-Pew-Pew' very long, that's what Jean's here for – protecting you against the horrible monstrosities."

"Time to play with the big guns?"

In the middle of the domed room, Jade stood, arms crossed, waiting for the program to fire up. With Jean off to the side, two large doors up high on opposite sides slid down open, allowing two giant lasers to creep out.

Jade predicted their movement, and once they were about ten feet to either side, angled down at her, she lowered her arms, ready. They moment they both fired, she sprang up into a flip onto the one on her right. She held on as it tried to shake her, and crawled up during the more mild moments. Once where she needed to be, she brought her legs up and braced herself. The other laser, fully extended to nearly ten feet away from hers, now shot at her, to which she back-flipped off hers and onto it, letting its shot hit the naked joint, frying its wires and disconnecting the laser, which hit the ground loudly. The rest of the arm dangled down from the door.

Now, with this one trying to shake her off, she again carefully crawled up, this time to a different joint – what would act as the arm's elbow. Once there, she held on with only her right arm and both legs, using her left arm to complete the final stage.

"Eniey, Meanie, Miney–" with each word, her fingers walked across some of the joint's wires left unprotected by metal plating, and after three, she grabbed a large bundle and brought her legs up again, springing off the laser, ripping its wires out, and causing a mini-explosion as she flew down.

She released the wires mid-air and broke her fall with a back-hand spring. Not too far from where she started, she calmly stood and crossed her arms, "Pew-Pew-Pew."

Jean raised an eyebrow a bit, but kept her tone lazy to sound unimpressed, "That had nothing to do with materialization of any sort…" She then thought to herself, i _She hasn't been here anymore than a day, not once used her powers, and… _/i

Jade shrugged, "Well, that was basics." She paused for a second, "Might we try something without artificial intelligence?"

Jean shook her head, "Not now, we don't want to break you. Besides, you need fill out registration forms for Bayville High. Classes start next week."

7

Drifting into consciousness, the boy tossed and turned in the bed as a force ripped at him from the inside. He wanted to scream out in agony, but couldn't find the strength to. The force pulled from all different directions, tearing him up as he resisted.

After a long hour of insufferable pain, he finally gave in to it. He sat up and let the force drag him out of bed. After many stumbles and bucklings of the knees, he was able to stalk to the door. He grabbed his backpack that'd been tossed next to the door and slung it on as he creaked open the door and walked out into the night.

He struggled past a dozen assorted buildings and limped up the hill, not knowing his destination, just letting the pull drag him where ever it was taking him. He reached the top of the hill and took a breath before descending past the border into lands unprotected.


	3. Chapters 8 through 10

8

After days of walking through cities, the boy stood in the night, looking down the street at a fenced-in facility. Two uniformed patrols stood in front of a gate with night-sticks in their hands and hand-guns strapped to their belts.

With no fear, he walked straight up to the guards. One started to speak and the other raised his night-stick, but he merely snapped his fingers and said in a monotone, "I'm just passing through."

As if in a trance, they stepped aside, and he pushed open the gate and walked to the building.

Once inside, he walked straight to a bullet-proof glass case with a key-pad. Without hesitation, he typed a seven digit code that was whispered into his brain and hit the "enter" key. After a beep and five clicking sounds, the lid lifted up.

He reached in and closed his fingers around a corked test-tube of bluish-green liquid. He plucked it up and immediately heard loud blaring alarms. Red lights flashed and guns and lasers popped out from panels all over the walls.

Guards burst in from all over, but once their guns were aimed at the casing, there was no one. Just defenses firing aimlessly all over the room, and an empty glass case.

9

Jade set a bowl down on the kitchen table and poured some cereal, then walked to the refrigerator. She opened it and peered in, looking for something missing. She muttered, "Where's the milk?" and turned to see Kitty sitting on the counter drinking from the bottle. She sighed and went back to her seat, eating her cereal dry.

Rouge slid into the seat across from her with a granola bar, obviously used to the lack of milk. They each did a head-jerk 'hey'.

On the small TV up in the corner, a news lady came on with a 'New from Last Night' Story, "Late last night a division of the New York Science Institute was broken into. The thief apparently got away with one of the new science projects, somehow disappearing before the building's defenses could get him. No information has been released yet about what the project was."

Jade let out a slight scoff, "One of the divisions? That's real specific…"

Rouge gave a confused look, "What?" Jade gestured to the TV, "Oh, wasn't paying any attention…"

Kurt popped in between them, on the table, and ran two steps on all fours to the end of the table and jumped, pouncing on Kitty, who spilt some milk as her back hit the counter top. She placed the milk bottle down and rolled over, knocking them both to the floor, her on top, holding him down. With puffs of smoke, they teleported on top of the fridge, on the turned-off oven, and finally under the table.

Jade and Rouge exchanged concerned looks as they listened to wild giggling and empty chairs getting pushed around.

Under the table, Kitty sat on top of Kurt tickling him relentlessly. Kurt managed to sneak his tail around her waist and used the spaded tip to retaliate. She stopped her attack on the blue mutant and started laughing when Kurt flipped their positions to exact his revenge. Kitty was laughing too hard to focus long enough to phase so she squirmed trying to release herself from his grasp, though had no luck. In her attempts to escape she got a wicked idea. Kitty lifted her body up enough so she could plant her lips on his, causing his cheeks to give off a purple tinge.

Jade and Rogue exchanged suspicious looks when the fits of laughter abruptly ended.

After several seconds of the awkward silence, Jade's finger twitched nervously. Immediately after, Kitty jerked up off Kurt, "Whoa!"

At that, Jade and Rouge ducked their heads under the table to see what happened. Rouge quickly came to an assumption, "Oh come on now Kit, yah couldn't find a place where people don't eat tah do that?"

Kitty stammered, "Uhp…ba...but…What's this?" She picked up the thing that had startled her – a steel needle like thing.

"Where'd that come from?" Rouge inquired.

"I don't know, it just like flew by…" Suddenly, the needle vanished from her hand.

A moment went by in silence as they thought it out. Once again, Jade's finger twitched, and another needle flew in-between Kitty and Kurt.

"What the–"Kitty's head jerked to the needle, then to Jade.

Noticing Kitty's eyes on her, Jade mouthed, "What?"

"It's you."

Jade shook her head, "That's ridiculous."

"No it's not. Try to, like, summon something."

Jade thought the idea stupid, but nonetheless she imagined herself holding a sword. In response, a steel blade grew in her hand. She blinked a couple times and tested the weight. It was perfectly balanced. She then flexed her hand and it vanished, "Whoa…"

After several moments, Kitty, Rouge, and Kurt began to rise. Jade gave them a confused look and Rouge explained, "The Professor's summoning us."

(Help with this scene is courtesy of my good Kurtty-fan friend: .net/u/2287404/3cheers4cannonfodder )

10

After several moments of contemplating, Jade decided to fallow them. She just felt a strange need to; surely the Professor would understand…

Sneaking behind them, she was led to a circular door that slid open to let them in. She waited a couple seconds and quickly snuck in before it closed. There was a bridge out into the middle of a spherical room, to a computer where the Professor and all the team were gathered. Jade stayed in the threshold, trying to remain unseen.

She listened in to what the Professor was telling them.

"Cerebro has picked up a new mutant, but he seems to be a little out of control…out in public…"

Scott spoke up, "So, then, you want us to talk to him before innocent people get hurt?"

"If you can. He's got fire control, so you'll have to be careful."

"Of course. Who are we looking for?"

The Professor pressed a button and a holographic screen popped up with a picture of the new mutant. Jade couldn't tell whether anything else was said after that, she just stared at the picture, her breathing increasing. The boy had long, wavy, dark brown hair and blue eyes. His skin was deep tan and his body thin with a little muscle. The face was unmistakable.

Jade's back slammed against the wall and her body started shaking as she let out an agonizing screech. Her body twitched and jerked, and with every few arm swings various steel-made weapons flew every direction.

They ran to her and tried to restrain her. Jean stayed behind, clutching her head as if something just snapped, "I've…lost all mental signals from her…"

On the other side of the bridge, Scott and a muscular man – Logan, Jade assumed – grabbed her and tried to hold her against the wall as she struggled and let out screams of pain. Steel projectiles hit and scratched them, while others still flew wildly around the room.

From the computer, the Professor shouted, "Rouge!"

Rouge slipped off her right glove and touched the side of Jade's face. With one last shriek, she stopped cold, and her knees buckled. They slowly lowered her to the floor, and once she was lying on the floor, they heard from behind them a moan fallowed by a thump. They looked behind them to see Rouge collapsed on the floor, her hand clutching her head as she blacked out.


	4. Chapters 11 through 13

With the soft purr of the engine, the sporty red convertible sped down the road. After pulling eighty past a thirty-five miles per hour road sign, Scott spun the wheel tightly, smoothly turning on the road's curve.

In the back seat, Kitty had laid her head on Kurt's lap. They stared into each other's eyes passionately, both admiring how outrageously amazing the other looked with their hair blowing in the wind; both silently cursing out the rearview mirror in their heads.

After about ten minutes of sharp turns, silent flirting, and groans from Logan in the front seat, Scott hit the brakes hard, pulling the wheel hard to the left, causing the car to spin and skid to a stop. They had found him. Slowly and cautiously, they got out and approached him.

Against a dark wall, he was curled up, sitting and clutching his head. His jeans and t-shirt were tattered and burnt all over – more holes than cloth it seemed. His long, dark-brown hair was terribly tangled and slightly singed at the ends. Along his right cheek was a jagged, charcoal-black burn mark extending downward then fallowing the jaw line.

Taking shaky breaths through his mouth, the boy looked up at the four. After a few seconds of looking at them, his head jerked back. His eyes shut tight, his teeth clenched together, and his hands squeezed his forehead, shaking with force.

"Don't worry," Scott said to the young mutant, "We're here to help with that."

Suddenly, the ground started rumbling, shaking violently underneath them.

"And there goes my good mood," Kitty grumbled under her breath, scowling.

They turned around and saw them, a group of boys – high school delinquent boys looking for trouble.

Scott gave a grimace, "What do you losers want?" he exclaimed. At that moment, the grungy, ghetto one that smelt of sewage jumped at him, getting at his head and knocking him to the ground.

", whatmakesyouthinkwe'regonnatellyouwhatwewant?" The one with the silver hair said, his word slurred together.

"I don't know," Kitty replied, "Seems you were pretty dead on the first time."

The kid stuck his tongue out a half second, "Shutup, ."

"Actually, Quicksilver, I think she just did," said the long haired guy next to him.

"ShutupAvalanche," He muttered under his breath.

Scott, who'd pushed the stinker off of him during their arguing, stood up and asked, "Why don't you losers come back when you're a little less pathetic? Or is that even possible for you?"

Quicksilver barely jolted and Scott was tripped up in half an instant.

Logan tensed his fists, allowing his shiny metal claws to come out – three on each hand. The ghetto one jumped at him from behind, but he spun around that instant and backhanded him straight into the wall, then spun back around and charged the ones in front of him. Right before he could get at 'Silver, a huge wall slammed him from the side – the huge beast of a kid who'd stayed quiet stopped him in his tracks and flung him to the right.

Kurt vanished in a puff of smoke and reappeared clinging on Avalanche's back, tugging at him. With rumbling of the earth, he tried to shake the fuzzy creature off, thrashing his body, letting out quakes that threatened to bring buildings down. Keeping his grip, Kurt began teleporting him all over, each time making the rumbling stop for a short instant.

Kitty cautiously approached Quicksilver, knowing her chances were slim. Seeing her attempt, he instantly vanished from where he stood and a blurry vortex-like ring formed around her, rising rapidly. She began struggling to breathe, taking in large gasps of near oxygen-less air. Finally, unable to take it, she sank into the ground. Once he realized she'd gone, Quicksilver skidded to a stop and looked around to see who was next.

After a short second – right before he was about to redirect his attack – he felt a close on his ankles. Realizing it was too late to fix his mistake, he gritted his teeth as he sunk down to his ankles in asphalt. Next to him, Kitty rose and pretended to dust her hands off.

During this, Scott had his hand on his visor – in place of his shades – adjusting it ever so slightly every few seconds. From it he shot several red beams at the mammoth teen, trying to help Logan – still wrestling the thing – take care of him. Most of his shots went past the continuously moving duo, and several hit Logan accidentally, hurting him momentarily, but healing back. He did occasionally, though, get a good shot at the blob, burning at his skin, but he didn't seem to feel it to well.

The smelly kid, whose slamming left a dent in the stone wall, shook the pain out of his head. He glanced right and saw the new guy moaning in pain next to him, then turned back to see Kitty now starting to come at him. He spat a slimy, smelly ooze at her, which she just let go right through her, landing on the ground next to Quicksilver, who now gagged at the bubbling gunk.

Glancing back to the boy, the freak got an idea. He grabbed his arm and pointed it at Kitty. Seeing this, she slowed to a stop, confused. He punched the beat-up looking guy in the stomach, and, with a screech of pain, a column of flames poured out at Kitty. She side stepped, but not before the fire had grazed her skin. Not thinking fast enough to fully solidify herself to stop the flames from going through her, the molecules through half of the hit area screamed from the scorching heat. She collapsed on the ground and grasped at the burn, unable to take the pain and unable to quench it. Slowly, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Laughing to himself, the kid turned the arm to Scott and elbowed the boy in the same place, allowing flames to hit his back, knocking him to the ground. Now done with his fun, he full on punched the poor kid in the temple, knocking him out.

With Kurt teleporting Avalanche all over, the rumbling slowed as he concentrating, waiting for an opportunity to get the fuzzball off. When they finally landed close to a wall, Avalanche jolted back, smashing Kurt against the wall hard, then flipping him over his head and throwing him down, slamming his back onto the concrete. He looked to the final battle, "Blob, hurry up and finish the job already!"

With that, Blob stood up and pulled Logan to his feet and gave a solid punch to his gut, throwing him back and slamming him into the wall right above and next to where Kurt lay. He then went to the wall, holding Logan there while repeatedly punching at him.

Using this distraction, Avalanche stomped the ground, cracking the asphalt all the way to Quicksilver, forming a hole around his legs, allowing his freedom. As 'Silver stepped out and away Avalanche looked over his shoulder. "Toad," he barked as a shortened command.

Toad picked up the unconscious boy, slung him over his shoulder, and hopped over. Blob then threw the still-healing Logan a good fifty feet back and ran off with the others, a loud boom with each step.

Toad stopped in his tracks. "Yo, guys wait up a sec," he said, and then hopped over and into the convertible. He threw the kid into the backseat and turned the keys left in the ignition. Hearing it roar to life, they smiled. Quicksilver instantly appeared in the front seat while the others were jogging towards it. With everyone in, they sped off.

Logan stood up from where he landed, about to fallow them, but then he looked around at the unconscious kids. He swore under his breath.

12

Jade's eyes flickered open, squinting at the light. She started to lift her head, but instantly felt a wave of pain and dizziness, and dropped back down. She brought her hand up and rubbed her temple, trying to soothe the pain.

Looking around, she saw, on a countertop, several small boxes, tubes, and bottles, and a jar holding syringes and scalpels and such. She tried to remember how she could've possible landed in the infirmary – not that she'd ever had trouble with that. The last thing she remembered, though, was breakfast with Rouge, Kitty, and Kurt.

Recalling that memory, she experimentally held out her hand. Sure enough, a sword materialized on command. She gripped the hilt tighter and tested the weight. Not too bad. Turning it, she noticed the plain, dull design of the hilt and frowned a bit. She would have to take some free time to come up with something much better. She flexed her wrist and willed the sword to vaporize.

A few minutes later, the sound of a door opening redirected Jade's attention. Turning her head, she watched as a pretty, intelligent looking African woman with long silver hair walked in. Jade struggled a second to remember what the others had called her – Ororo. She walked over to Jade's bed.

"Well, you're awake. That's always a good sign."

"'Cept during surgery," Jade replied.

Ororo gave a one shoulder half-shrug, giving her that, "How are you feeling?"

She shrugged, "How should I feel?"

There was a pause while she thought about that, "I cannot say, nobody's sure what happened."

"Uhm, what did happen?"

"Well, you kind of…exploded or something. And when you did, Jean collapsed with a headache. Rouge had to touch you – to knock you out before you really hurt anyone or destroyed the place. Once you were out, though, she passed out as well."

Jade pursed her lips, a look of slight confusion on her face, "And that doesn't normally happen, then?"

Ororo shook her head slowly, "It was very strange…"

Jade paused for a second, taking that in, then asked, "Where are they now?"

"Jean's in her room, with some high dosage of ibuprofen. Being a telepath, she's had overloads, but she'd said this was a much different pain. Rouge's still out, but we put her in the other room. We didn't want to…risk anything…"

Jade gave a puzzled look before she got that last bit – either one of them might've had an aftermath panic attack upon awakening. She felt a wave of sadness, had she really hurt her newfound buddies already?

Ororo read the guilt on her face, "Don't worry, we have had worse happenings – some even intentional. This wasn't your fault."

Jade knew better than to argue that one out. No matter how immensely your fault it was, some adults always managed to twist things around to make you seem innocent.

After seeing she wasn't going to respond, Ororo thought a bit and asked, "Do you think you can get up?"

She sat up to test it out – a little light-headedness, but…,"Yeah, I think the pain's subsided, for the most part."

Ororo smiled a bit, "That's good, because you should test out your powers more – in the Danger Room."

13

"Alright," Ororo said over the speaker to Jade, who stood alone in the Danger Room, "We are going to keep this one simple, so try and focus on using *just* your powers."

"'Ight," Jade replied.

Ororo started up the program from the control room, and a small gun popped out of the wall and started shooting paintballs at Jade, who winced when the first one hit.

"M'kay," Jade said, rubbing her hands together. She held her right arm out and imagined a sharp-pointed spear-like pole growing out from her hand. Her hopes had been that it'd extend far enough to impale the thing, but once it got past five feet long, the end grew too heavy. She tried extending the end in her hand, but was unable to regain its balance. She lost her grip and it clattered on the ground a couple times before vaporizing.

She face palmed. This wasn't going to be as easy as she'd hoped. She tried to think through getting pelted by colors. Was there an easier way to do this? The pain became too much an obstacle at that point. With her eyes closed to block the paint from getting into them, she brought her left arm up, trying to block some projectiles. Her arm grew heavy at that moment, and instantly stopped hitting her upper body.

Confused, she opened her eyes, then chuckled. "Alright," she laughed, seeing her new shield. With that taken care of, she turned her attention back to stopping the gun.

In her right hand, she materialized a javelin, but immediately made it vanish, knowing she wouldn't be able to throw it that far up. She sighed, knowing there was no other way to do this. She winced, bringing her arm up, aiming it at the gun. She flexed her fingers ever so slightly, letting a needle fly.

Naturally, it hit the wall a foot to the left of the gun and fell to the ground. She gritted her teeth and tried again, this one going to the right of the gun, falling to the ground just like it's brother.

"C'mon," she muttered, trying to focus her aim. Again, she flexed her fingers and released a third, which ricocheted off the wall, then off the floor, then the ceiling, bouncing all over the place. Finally, it lodged itself into the barrel of the gun. Jade gave a hopeful gasp.

A second passed, and it fired again, shooting the needle out with a colorful bullet, both sticking to her shield.

"Gosh darn it!" She exclaimed, trying to hold her tongue in the presence of an adult. She then flung her arm horizontally, releasing a barrage that stuck to the wall. Not a one had hit the machine, giving Jade an eye-twitch as she starred.

Fed up and enraged, she pulled her shield off her arm and yelled, throwing it. It impacted the gun, smashing it. Pieces of the end fell to the ground and ripped wires hung down, electricity dancing across them twice before they settled. Jade starred it down again.


	5. Chapters 14 through 18

"Wellthatwasboring," There was a loud thud as the unconscious boy was dropped on the floor of the boarding house.

Toad shrugged and hopped over the lump, "Well, 'least we got a free car out of it."

There was a murmur of agreement. Toad leaped clear across the room into a seat on the couch, slouching in it, "So, uh, anyone know what Magneto plans on doin' with this dweeb?"

"That's for him to know," said a new voice coming from a creature stalking down the stairs. She had on a small, black, leather outfit that covered very little of her only slightly discolored – blue – skin. Straight red hair came down to her shoulders, some strands falling over her glowing yellow eyes, and a yellow jewel was on her forehead.

"So in other words, you dunno either, Mystic?" Toad received a look from her that told him to shut up or he'd get his head bitten off.

"Magneto's intensions are of no importance to you right now," Mystic started, "What is important is that we get him to a usable condition. Get him off the floor."

Blob scooped him off the floor and walked across the room to set him on the long table in front of the couch Toad was on, the others following.

"He might be out for quite some time," she said, examining the child, "His mind is probably trying to distinguish fact from fiction."

"So his puny brain might be literally fried?" Toad joked.

Mystic pretended to disregard that statement. "He might be…hot tempered when he awakes," she said, "Cool him off." With that, she spun around and retreated upstairs.

15

The front door to the mansion flew open as a ticked off, growling Logan stormed in, carrying three unconscious bodies – Kitty and Kurt on one shoulder, Scott slung across the other.

"Oh my," Ororo said, simultaneously with a gasp from Jade. They stood on top of the staircase in the main hall, overlooking the entrance. Jade's hair was still matted with paint, and paint splats covered many forming bruises all over her body. Ororo was perfectly clean.

They rushed down the stairs and helped lower them carefully to the floor. "How bad?" Ororo asked.

Logan huffed, "Better than they were before. They were horribly banged up, but they've had quite a while to recover. It was hours over there by a speeding car which got jacked. For some reason, I couldn't make contact with Charles, so I've been carrying them by foot for days. They've all been on and off the whole way, but if we just nurse some burns and wounds they should be ready for school tomorrow."

Jade recalled a while back, when Jean said school would start in a week. To herself, she muttered, "This week sped by…"

Hearing her, Ororo looked over, "You were unconscious for most of it." Seeing Jade shrug, she continued, "Come, let's bring them to the infirmary."

By the end of the day, at dinner, everyone seemed better. Kitty, Kurt, and Scott were all conscious and bandaged up. Rogue was awake, but, to Jade, it seemed for a bit she was whiter faced than usual, but that passed. Jean's headache had lessened, and Jade had removed every bit of remaining paint from herself. They were able to spark up a conversation about school, telling Jade where to find her classes and who and what to look out for.

After it all, Jade was able to sleep with the comforting dread that summer would be over on the morning.

16

Jade propped her head up on the desk with one hand as the other was madly scrawling away on a sheet of paper. She squinted at the overhead, trying to decipher the combination of curly manuscript and a fuzzy projection. She glanced a second at Rogue in a seat diagonal from hers. She'd already put her pencil down, finished copying. It was only fourth period on the first day and Jade was already behind. She cursed in her mind and turned back to the screen.

At the end of the period, the sheet of paper had several half paragraphs with spaces in between where the projections were changed mid-sentence. All her chicken-scratch was unreadable even to her. She shoved the sheet into her backpack and pulled out her planner, flipping to the date. She was about to write down the assignment when the lunch bell rang and she was shooed out. She stopped by the locker whose number was on the slip given to her, opened it, slipped the books from her last couple of classes in, shut it, and shoved on the lock. With that done, she turned and followed the crowd to the cafeteria.

She went through the line and bought some form of a stereotypic school lunch, then scanned the room. Rogue caught her eye and waved her over to a seat at a table with the rest of the gang.

Sitting down across from Rogue, Jade put her stuff down and asked her if she'd written down the assignment. Rogue nodded and pulled out her planner, Jade doing the same. Glancing at Rogue's planner, she winced slightly, and pretended to be too concentrated on writing quickly, "Er, could you just…read that to me?..."

As she did, Jade quickly scribbled a bunch of senseless shapes down, flipping it closed before anyone could get a closer look. She put it away and thanked Rogue, pretending nothing strange just happened as a few others blinked at her.

The last three periods weren't any better, but she knew they'd become her saving grace later on. The first days were always the worst for those classes.

In Band, she had to sit and listen to the director read a whole packet of papers – most of which she's heard at every school, but those directors never followed through with any of it. In Phys Ed, she sat in the gym's bleachers listening to people she didn't know talk amongst themselves, and in Orchestra, she sat and listened to practically the same packet being read as in band.

By the time she reached Scott's borrowed van, her mind was so bored and restless that she wasn't sure whether she wanted to fall asleep or run five miles straight. She buckled into the vehicle and daydreamed the whole way back to the mansion.

17

Engulfed in a lake of pure, intense heat, sitting in the core of the sun, burning and looking up at miles and miles of more flames, the boy tossed and turned in his unconscious state, with no prevail of weakening the heat that pulsed through his veins. Only a small part of his mind was aware that his skin was against something cool, but whenever he focused on that, the heat arose even higher.

This went on for a couple of hours longer – which to him felt like days – until the heat began to diminish a mere fraction of a degree. It was enough, however, for him to force his eyes open.

All he saw at that instant were bags of ice all over him. He pressed up against them, hoping for the cold to drown out the heat a bit, but it failed to even cover it. He shut his eyes and exhaled, wishing desperately for the heat to leave him, and it suddenly obeyed, lessening little by little.

He flung his eyes open again to see light smoke slowly rising from his skin. A moment of shock passed over him, but he willed it to continue, thankful for the temperature decline.

Suddenly, he became aware of the strangers surrounding and studying him. As he looked closer, he recognized some of the faces from the last time he'd been conscious, and remembered they weren't exactly much of a welcoming party. Remembering the bit he saw, he realized he had to flee. In an impulse, he kicked one of the smaller ones out of the way so he could roll to the floor. On the floor, he willed all the heat in his forearms to be released at once, causing the arms to erupt in flames, the rest of the heat circulating around the area to fuel it.

The wood floor caught on fire, and he stood up and flung his arms wildly around, shooting flaming projectiles all over the place. In his frenzy, he couldn't make sense of the others' commotion, and only heard their voices as a roaring in his ears. The last thing he felt before blacking out again was a hard hit to the back of the head, and the floor's impact.

Mystic lowered her fist and scowled, scooping up the boy. She carried him out of the now empty, flaming building. Without listening to the others' naggings, she morphed into a large, dark bird and flew off over the sign saying 'Brotherhood Boarding House' with the boy in her talons.

18

Jade loudly shut her calculus book and shoved it to the other end of the desk, dropping her head to the hard wood surface. Even with her eyes shut tight, the numbers, letters, and symbols swam around her mind, rearranging themselves in senseless ways. Not even the simple directions for the problems showed mercy.

After a while of futile waiting for the headache to lessen, she got up from her chair and started towards somewhere with less homework, trying to give her poor brain a break.

She came to the staircase leading down to the main hall of the mansion, and leaned against the railing. She looked down, watching the activity happening below – nothing more than a few conversations around the couches, but it was peaceful enough to let her escape the head pain for a while.

After several minutes, there was a crisp loud knock at the door, and one of the younger mutants got up to answer it.

Jade could barely see past the kid at who was there, but she saw a blue and red being and could see shock on the others' faces in the room that could see. Toning out the many murmurs in the room, she could just make out the visitor's only words, "Good luck."

There was a loud thud of something heavy being dropped just before the door slammed shut. In a matter of seconds, there was a crowd around what had been left, and Jade could not see any part of it. With more and more gathering, she felt compelled to go down as well, but even there, she could only make out a lump that she assumed was an unconscious person.

Soon Ororo came and loosened up the mass, kneeling next to the body to examine it. Getting the signs she needed, she picked up the being and carried it in the direction of the infirmary. Jade strained to see past students at the face of the body, but once she did, she felt a wave of panic come over her. She recognized very well the face of the boy being carried away. She had to follow.

In the infirmary, Ororo laid the child on a bed by the professor and some of the older X-Men who'd been waiting. Jade wondered how they knew to meet there as she leaned herself up against the outside wall, listening. She knew hiding was no use, but at least she wouldn't be in their way for the time.

The professor held his hands to the boys head, and after a few seconds, said, "I can't pick up much of a mental signal."

Jean gave a slight gasp, "His mind sounds like-"

"Yes," the professor interrupted, knowing what she meant. "His wounds are great, and I have a feeling that medicine will be futile, his body would just burn them up."

Jade wiped a watering eye as the voices trailed off. Her mind lingered on 'can't pick up a mental signal.' What did that mean? And if meds would just burn up in him, would anything work on the boy? She tried to focus on what they were saying, but just kept picking up the negatives. She then felt a familiar presence in her mind and let everything go. She ignored every feeling of wanting to curl up and walked right in, holding up a finger signal to wait at the first to gap at her.

She found a syringe on the counter and pulled from her pocket a small Ziploc bag with something she always kept on her person. She opened it and broke off a corner of a small rectangular caramel colored bar, which she slipped into the syringe. She added some water from a sink and shook it to get the contents to be a liquid.

She turned and looked at the professor with a pleading expression, to which he hesitantly nodded for her to continue. She injected the boy with the liquid, and in seconds, some color came to his pale face. Soon enough, the boy's eyes fluttered open, revealing his light blue irises.

Looking up at Jade, the boy gave a gentle smile. He opened his mouth to say something, but Jade quickly put a finger to his mouth. Once he gave up on the attempt, she broke off another piece of the caramel colored bar and hand fed it to him.

Scott was the one to interrupt this, "So wait, you know him?"

Jade turned and gave a gentle chuckle, smiling and nodding.


	6. Chapters 19-21

19

"Zachary Vatt," Jade named him, "We, uh, grew up together." She didn't want to give too much away. Not just yet.

"Oh, well that answers everything," Scott replied sarcastically.

"Well, it might explain why you both have broken mental signals," Jean offered.

Jade furrowed her brows, looking from Zach to Jean, "What?"

"Oh, well see, I have telepathic powers, and I try not to invade, but for some reason all I get from you is little bits, and it's like trying to tune out static."

Zach gave an awful sound that was meant to be a chuckle, "Jade's mind is broken? Why does that not surprise me?" His voice was hoarse and pained.

Jade sneered at him and elbowed him lightly in the chest, "Hey genius, she means you too." Zach just gave a cocky grin in return. Jade sighed. Then she remembered something, "So wait, you said Rouge passed out when she touched me, right?"

Ororo nodded, "Yes, you should have passed out and she should have absorbed your powers and memories for a time, but instead she passed out right along with you, which was strange."

"Maybe you just can't handle what goes on in this chick's head," Zach said, "She's crazy, after all." Rather than hit him again, Jade met his eyes. They both knew what was blocking them from seeing into their minds, but neither would say anything yet.

Scott shrugged, "Anyway, so you grew up together and have the mutant X-gene show itself within a couple days of each other? What are the odds of that?"

"Gene?" Zach started, clearing his throat, "I don't know about that; this was an experiment, and we were targets. Some kind of serum, but I can't say if that serum could have permanently altered our DNA, we'd have to run some tests—"

"No," the Professor replied, "Cerebro picked up the X-gene."

"Cerebro?"

"Big supercomputer that can map out all mutants and stuff," Scott summarized.

Zach nodded, "Well then, that sucks."

Jade snorted, "What, that you're a mutant for life or that you were wrong?"

"That I was wrong."

A few quiet moments passed before the Professor cleared his throat, "Well, if you'll be staying with us, we will have to enroll you at the local high school, and I'll have to contact your parents."

Zach scoffed, "Good luck with that. Long story short, you won't find either, but Jade's mom can legally sign off my registration forms."

Professor Xavier nodded, "Very well, we will leave you to rest." The room cleared out, leaving Jade and Zach alone.

"So," Jade started, looking into Zach's eyes, "You found me, eh?"

Zach slowly brushed Jade's hair behind her ear, "Always."

"I thought they'd left you; that you'd gotten back to camp safely."

Zach furrowed his brows, "I think I did. I don't remember, but something possessed me. I remember injecting myself, and that's about it. I don't know if it was the link that made me do it or if our _friends _somehow got into my head."

Jade nodded slowly, "What do you think they're up to? If they're trying to create some super army, wouldn't they test it on their own? They don't care about their lower members, so if something gets wrong, they're 'disposable,' so why us? Why risk everything going right and their enhancements being used against them?"

"Maybe it's a recruitment tactic. Maybe they think they can mess with our minds and stuff and get us to turn. You know how much they want us."

She nodded solemnly, "That's not going to happen." Zach nodded in agreement.

She sighed and looked at Zach. A new scar marked his face; a mixture between cut and burn made a jagged line along his jaw. She reached out to touch it, but ripped her hand back as soon as she did. His skin was scorching.

"Hot?" Zach laughed, "Yeah, try feeling it from my end. That cut was from the last battle. I guess when I changed, the skin there was particularly vulnerable, so it burned."

"Ouch."

Zach shrugged, "Yeah, so it probably wouldn't be very smart to give me more of that." He pointed at the caramel colored square Jade still held. "With my body temperature like this, I worry what too much ambrosia would do. I'm surprised you remembered the injection trick though. Don't think it was that urgent, but hey, there may be hope for you yet."

Jade scoffed, then sighed, "Do you realize how backwards this feels?"

Zach laughed and nodded, then sighed, "We have to go back, you know. Their waiting for a report and they need us."

Jade bit her lip, "Yeah, I know, but we can't yet. If we don't learn to use our powers, we could wind up hurting everyone at home. We have to stay here and learn from these mutants who know what it's like."

He nodded, "Alright, we will wait. We will try to train with these people. Just remember that our enemy will not be taking a break while we do."

She winced at this truth and sighed. A silent moment passed before she said, "Well, you get some sleep, 'kay?" And the boy began to drift off.

20

The next day, Jade and Zach walked into the cafeteria of Bayville High School, Zach having just spent the morning in the office getting registration sorted out. Carrying trays of food, they went to the gang's table, where an upcoming concert event was being discussed.

"Yeah, it's some charity benefit, there's a bunch of bands coming in to do this," Scott said, "Most of them are trying to impress record companies, but they're still supposed to be pretty good."

"Are you talking about the one in the park next weekend?" Zach asked.

"Yeah, you've heard about it?"

"Yeah, I know of it. Maybe you'll see us there," Zach winked at Jade as if an untold secret passed between them.

"As long as Logan doesn't like run Danger Room sessions or anything, ugh!" Kitty said, exasperated. Nods and grumbles around the table mirrored the feeling.

"So, like, what kind of music do you like?"

"I'll listen to pretty much anything but rap," Zach said, wiping hair from his face, "Like, a little is okay so long as it's got a nice beat and bass, but most of the time it's too messy and vulgar. It's a disgrace to musicians and poets. Oh, and I refuse to listen to Bieber – the kid's a brat and he doesn't deserve the attention he gets."

"Amen to that," Jade chimed in, "And when he says anything he means it, like, everything, all at once. I've never seen a playlist so messed up. I mean seriously, who puts_ A_ _Night on Bald Mountain_ sandwiched between_ Party Rock Anthem_ and _American Pie_?"

"Hey, Mussorgsky's great, m'kay, and that particular composition is perhaps the greatest piece of musical literature of all time. It is the epitome of evil; it embodies all black magic…" Jade rolled her eyes and stabbed at her food with a fork as his words trailed off on his tangent.

The discussion of his odd music taste continued past the bell and into the band hall. Getting out her trumpet next to Zach, Jade hadn't bothered asking how he'd gotten his saxophone here so quickly. All of his instruments tended to follow him around wherever he went. Part of her hoped she'd get back to the mansion to find his guitars mounted on the walls of the dorm they'd given him. Maybe that would show he was serious about staying for a while.

"So, will it feel weird sitting last chair on your first day?"

Zach shrugged, reed sticking out of his mouth as he assembled the instrument, "I don't even care, chair challenges are easy, I'll be back in first by the end of the week." She rolled her eyes, knowing she wouldn't have it as easy.

After band, they had to part ways; Jade had P.E. and Zach had history.

Zach walked into the classroom and took the first empty seat he saw and was thankful to find that it was under the fan. He had been sweating too much for his own comfort, and the dizzying amount of Axe he'd put on that morning was wearing off faster than he would have figured. He was glad that it wasn't the searing heat it was before, but he couldn't wait until his body finished adjusting to the change. He swept his bushy hair out of his face – maybe he should consider cutting it. If Jade would let him.

He noticed the guy next to him was wearing a flannel coat and jeans, and didn't look at all uncomfortable. He looked down at his white tank top and shorts. He hoped he at least looked like he came straight from P.E.; he didn't want to seem like a sweaty freak. Then he remembered he had muscles from years of training, so it didn't matter if he was sweaty, he still looked manly.

After that tangent, he noticed something else about the guy next to him – he was looking at him. Realizing that, Zach looked back at him. Something looked familiar about him – his curly red hair was bushy in a way that made Zach wonder how many pencils he'd lost in it, and his face was freckled with wisps of facial hair. The kid looked weak and awkward, and Zach was almost certain that if he stood up and walked around, he would be gimping. But that would mean something different to him than it would to those who knew less.

The kid looked like he was going to say something, but the bell rang and the teacher started talking. Zach turned his attention to the teacher until a paper was slid over to him.

_You know you scared everyone when you just disappeared from the infirmary._

He wrote back one word: _Satyr?_

The kid nodded and took the paper back. He started to write something else before the teacher cleared her throat and gave the two of them the evil eye. The look gave Zach a sense of unease; he hated getting on teachers' bad sides. Not because he wanted to be a teacher's pet or anything, but because it almost always brought problems. The satyr next to him looked anxious as well, which meant he'd want to continue this conversation after class. Zach mentally sighed, knowing he'd want an explanation that he wasn't sure about himself.

He gave another mental sigh when the teacher started her lecture about the Civil War. He knew about the Civil War; he knew more about the Civil War than they'd be tested on. He knew it was the Roman scum that started it…

By the end of the lecture, Zach was sweaty and irritated. Some kid decided it was too cool and turned off the fan in the middle of class. He rubbed his forehead, and when the bell rang, he shoved his stuff into his back unsystematically and threw it onto his shoulders as he stood up. He rolled his eyes when he remembered goat boy would want to talk to him, and met him just outside the classroom.

"We need to get you back to camp so you can report to Chiron," the kid said promptly.

"Hey man, slow down. I don't even know you. What's your name?"

With an eye roll, he responded, "Jules Alastair. And we don't have time to slow down. You being here can't be good. Chiron figured that they'd try and lure you out of camp. He said that you going after your girlfriend could only bring trouble. He wants you back at camp so he can sort all this out."

"Well I found her, and nothing bad has happened. I'm about to go see her in orchestra. What could be so bad about some measly string instruments?"

Jules gave an exasperated sigh, "Really? Do you really believe that something bad is not going to happen? You're a half-blood; your life's not that easy."

Zach bit his lip; he knew that was true, even if he hoped otherwise, "Well, I can't go back right now. I'll just send him an Iris-message tonight, alright?"

Jules opened his mouth to argue, but the next bell rang, and his expression changed to one of fright as a chill ran down both of their spines. They turned around, and at the end of the vacant hallway stood their history teacher, arms crossed and staring at them with glowing eyes.

21

Jade put up her rented bass and walked out of the orchestra room with a worried look on her face after the dismissal bell. She waited for Rouge and Kitty, coming from the other end of the hallway.

"Hey," Rouge said when they came up, "Where's Zach? Don't he have last period with you?" The Southern twang rang in her voice.

"He wasn't there for some reason," Jade shrugged, "I don't know where he is."

"That's weird," Kitty said as they pushed through the double doors.

"Uhm, could that have anything to do with it?" Rouge gestured to the scene before them. Police officers had an area blocked off with caution tape and were talking to some administrators. There was a ring of curious students forming around the scene.

Jade looked at the damage; a door was ripped off the hinges and thrown, and next to were hundreds of shards from a broken window. A tree in a planter of the outdoor courtyard was snapped in half and scorched, and was still smoking.

"Yep, definitely looks like your boyfriend had something to do with this," Kitty remarked, "I'm surprised the fire alarms didn't go off."

Jade shrugged, "Yeah, they should probably get that checked out." Her tone was bored, like this happened often. She sighed; only they would have that kind of luck.

Scott broke apart from the gathering crowd and approached them. "Welp," he said, putting his hands in his pockets, "two students and a teacher are missing, and apparently someone's run over the gate to the student parking lot."

"Two students?" Jade asked, surprised, "Zach and who else?"

"They won't say—"

"Jules Alastair," Jean answered as she came up.

"That gimpy ginger kid?" Kitty asked with a furrowed brow, "Surely he couldn't have done any of this?"

Jean shrugged, "That's all I know right now."

Jade felt a little relief; Zach may not have brought down an innocent bystander. If this was the school's satyr, he may have saved Zach's butt. She realized everyone was looking at her uneasily, "What?"

Scott shifted uncomfortably, "You sure you don't know anything about all this?"

Jade rolled her eyes, "No, I had nothing to do with this, if that's what you mean." She sighed and shouldered her bag, "Look, I know it looks bad, but I guarantee you that Zach didn't instigate this."

Scott crossed his arms and heaved a sigh, "Well, we better go find him."

Jade didn't say anything; if the battle was over, then she knew exactly where he was heading.

Jade stood inside the large spherical room of Cerebro with the other X-Men. Professor Xavier was operating the machine with much concentration.

After a few moments, the professor took of the helmet, "Well, Zach's mind is harder to read for some reason, but using Cerebro, I was able to somewhat penetrate that barrier. I have located him with Jules Alastair – whom I cannot seem to read at all – heading towards Long Island."

Jade nodded slightly as the professor confirmed her theory. He continued, "I do not know the whereabouts of Ms. Parks, the teacher who is missing. I cannot pick up any mental signal from her."

"Like, how come no one's readable all of a sudden?" Kitty asked. The question was directed towards Professor Xavier, but everyone looked expectantly to Jade

She shrugged like she didn't know the answer, which wasn't true. What she didn't know was how to explain it. Instead of offering an answer, she said, "They'll stop along the north shore of the Sound."

"The Long Island Sound?" Rouge asked, "Why, what's there?"

"Water," she answered. Nobody bought it. She chewed her lip and choose her words carefully, "There's a patch of farmland there; Zach's buddies with the owner. He'll let them stay there."

"So he's on the run?" Scott asked skeptically.

"You'd be too," Jade countered, "People tend to jump to conclusions when they don't know the whole story, which presents problems for those involved."

There were nods among the group, and a moment passed before the professor spoke up again, "You should know that the school is being closed for the remainder of the week for investigations. Tomorrow, we can go look for them and do our own investigations."

Later that night, Rouge was awakened by an excessive rustling outside. She stumbled tiredly to the window, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and looked down. She could make out a figure sneaking outside the mansion. She narrowed her eyes to focus on its features, and when the moonlight hit her face, she saw that it was Jade, "What the—"

She furrowed her brows in confusion, which changed quickly to suspicion. Jade made a sharp whistle into the night, and her suspicion grew to near-fear. Was she lying when she said she had nothing to do with the incident at school? Was Jade Pager here to organize an ambush on the mansion?

Rouge rushed over to the other bed in the dorm and pulled the pillow out from underneath its occupant, careful not to touch her, "Kitty, get up."

"Ugh, what Rouge?" Kitty said, irritated, "You totally suck; I was having a good dream."

"Yeah, whatever, just shut up and look out the window."

"Aww, did little Rougie get spooked by a little noise?"

Rouge rolled her eyes, "Okay, one, you're the one who's always screamin' for help every time there's a bug in the room, so shut it," Kitty stuck her tongue out at her as she followed her to the window. "Two – hey, she's gone!"

"Who?"

"Jade. Get us down there."

Kitty gave an exasperated look, but grabbed Rouge's sleeved arm. She stepped into the wall and they sunk several floors until they stepped out onto the grass outside the mansion. She crossed her arms and looked to Rouge for an explanation.

"'Kay, Jade was here. She whistled, like she was calling someone. I know this'll sound crazy, but it's like she was a spy calling to a raid party or somethin'."

Kitty shook her head, "Nah, she probably just left early to find Zach."

"Yeah, but how'd she disappear so quickly?" She looked around. There was no sign of her anywhere. She walked over to where she saw Jade standing, Kitty following behind, "Who was she whistling to?"

Kitty bent down, examining the ground. The dirt had been lightly torn, like an animal left prints. She picked up something light and examined it. She looked up and handed Rouge a foot long, spotted feather.


End file.
